KTKG Says: Yo! This is my second attempt at writing some SS fiction. I hope you guys like it!
Disclaimer: I'm only going to say this one time… I do NOT own Cardcaptor Sakura! It is the property of CLAMP
Chapter One
"And for the latest in entertainment news, singer Li Xiaolang surprised his fans by announcing that he will be leaving his current label in Hong Kong for Daidouji Records in Tokyo. The move was announced early Friday morning by his cousin and current manager Mei-"
"Sweetie… Sakura-chan…. Saku-chan… SAKU-CHAN!"
Sakura's head snapped up to find the barista on the other side of the counter giving her an irritated look, her arm extended with a slightly steaming peppermint mocha gripped in her hand. Responding with a somewhat sheepish smile, Sakura quickly shoved her phone in her pocket while pulling out her credit card.
"I'm sorry Juri-san, I guess I was a bit distracted there!" Trading her card for the cup, Sakura shot the older woman another apologetic smile before taking a quick sip of the minty chocolate and coffee confection while grabbing a wad of napkins as Juri shook her head and swiped the card. "Saku-chan, you really should pay attention to what's going on around you instead of your phone. Every time I see you, you're glued to that thing! The world could be falling down around you and you wouldn't even notice! I tell you, kids these days…"
Laughing, Sakura took another sip of her drink as Juri handed her card back. "I know Juri-chan, I know. I promise to pay more attention to what's going on around me and not my phone." The barista only shook her head in response as she watch Sakura give another smile before turning around and instantly digging into the pocket of her jeans for her phone as she walked off. "I swear, you're going to run into someone one of these days!"
Sakura on the other hand was too engrossed with the device in her hand to hear Juri's call of warning.
Rounding the corner, Sakura frowned as she took another healthy sip and scrolled through the seemingly endless emails in her inbox. "I have to tell Moyo to stop subscribing me to these online fashion sites…" Continuing to scroll through her inbox, she rounded another corner before coming to an abrupt stop as she collided with something tall and solid.
As she watched her phone and drink sail through the air in what seemed slow motion, the only thing that ran through her mind was that Juri had finally done it.
She had finally jinxed her into running into someone.
Time sped up again as she was instantly doused in mint chocolate coffee goodness, her eyes snapping shut in an effort to concentrate on keeping her balance as the sound of her phone clattering to floor reached her ears. She couldn't help but hiss slightly as she felt the hot liquid seep through her once-white t-shirt.
Oh hell. Tomoyo was going to kill her when she found out she ruined her latest creation.
A tenor yelp from above had her eyes snapping back open, only to be met with a broad chest covered in an also once-white shirt that was just as soaked through as her own. A wince graced her features when she noticed that her liquid caffeine was settling in the material, which would be a pain to get out later.
"Hey! Watch where you're going, you little runt!"
Irritation instantly ran through her as the sentence reached her ears.
Little runt?
Did this man just call her a little runt?
Screwing her face into a fierce frown (at least her in mind it was), she turned her glaring eyes upwards only to be met with a pair of the most vividly amber colored eyes that she had ever seen glaring right back at her. The intensity in them momentarily struck her speechless, and she was sure they had been staring at each other for quite some time until the ridiculously tall man decided to open his mouth.
"Well? Aren't you going to apologize, runt?"
At the repeat of the insult, she had to pull every ounce of restraint from within her to not stomp the living day lights out of his foot. "I am NOT a RUNT!" Finally able to tear her eyes away, she hurriedly picked up what was left of her drink and her phone, checking the latter for cracks and to see if it still worked. When the picture of a young girl and a tall man with auburn colored hair popped up on her screen, she let out a sigh of relief.
Once satisfied that her phone was indeed in working order, she took some of the napkins she had grabbed earlier and mopped up what she could of her coffee off the floor. With a glare, she shoved the remaining napkins into the taller man's chest, trying her best to ignore how firm it felt beneath her hand before stepping back and placing a hand on her hip, the other grasping what was left of her drink.
A small smirk spread across her face as she watched his amber eyes widened in surprised as he fumbled to catch the small pieces of absorbable paper before they fell, her smirk widening even more once his surprised amber gaze landed back on her. "A word of advice you jolly green giant; if you don't want anyone running into you, maybe you shouldn't stand in the middle of a hallway like an idiot."
As thick brows came down to meet over those glaring amber eyes, Sakura mentally pat herself on the back before turning to head towards her original destination; the elevator. As she pressed the call button, she felt a nagging feeling in the back of her mind that she had seen those eyes somewhere before. For some reason, they were oddly familiar to her.
The ding signaling the arrival of the elevator car broke her out of her thoughts. Entering the car, she let a smirk bloom on her face when she turned and saw the man trying to mop up what he could off of his shirt. She noted faintly that a fluff of his chestnut colored hair was now peeking out of the beanie that he wore and that weird feeling of familiarity came back to her once more.
Wait a minute… chestnut brown hair and amber colored eyes. Where had she seen that combination before?
Just as the elevator doors were about to close, she caught wind of him muttering what could only be curses in another language. After listening to it a bit more, she started cackling to herself as the doors finally closed, however she stopped immediately as she realized what language it was in.
Cantonese.
Chestnut brown hair, amber eyes, and he spoke Cantonese…
Instantly, she turned to her phone and unlocked it, the video she had been watching just before Juri had interrupted her about her coffee popping back up as her lock screen disappeared. Sure enough, there were those damn eyes staring back at her on the screen behind the news anchor, although in the picture his eyes were slightly smiling instead of glaring like they had been seconds ago.
Heaving a sigh, Sakura chugged the rest of what she had managed to salvage of her coffee and shuffled out of the elevator as it opened for her on the fourth floor. She needed all the energy she could get. After all, she had just more than likely royally pissed off the one and only Li Xioalang.
If the rumors about him were true, Aunt Sonomi would not be pleased if she caught wind of this…
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Li Xiaolang, or Syaoran as he preferred to be called, let out a sigh of exhaustion as he flopped down on the couch of his new living room.
Today had been one exhausting day.
He had travelled straight from the airport directly to the label's headquarters on only about three hours of sleep, considering he waited until the last minute to pack his belongings. Once he had stepped through the door at the label, he had instantly been whisked away up to the CEO's office to talk with Sonomi Daidouji in person about his contract and scheduling for the next couple of months as he recorded his Japanese debut album before starting work on his Korean album. After that, it had been signing contract after contract and then trying to track down all of his luggage.
At the thought of his future schedule and the fact that he was going to have to basically start training all over again, he let out another heavy sigh.
Man, Meiling was not kidding when she said that making an international debut was going to be no joke.
The thought of having to go through training all over again at the age of twenty-five had his mouth turning down slightly into a frown, however Meiling had made a really good point. If he wanted to stay relevant, he needed to reinvent himself, and to do that he had to leave Hong Kong behind for one of the hottest record labels in the East right now. From the things that Daidouji-san mentioned in their meeting, the label move would only work in his favor, especially since he would be working with the label's world-famous in-house producers.
Grumbling, he ran a hand through his unkempt chestnut brown locks when the smell of mint chocolate and coffee wafted straight to his nose, bringing his attention down to his white shirt that was now adorned with random brown splotches.
Peeling the shirt off, he frowned when he got a good look at the once-white material covered in coffee stains. At the sight of the ruined material, a pair of angry emerald eyes flashed through his memory and his frown deepened further.
He knew he should be mad about the ruined shirt, especially since it was not a cheap one. He also knew he should be upset about the way the woman (or maybe teenager since she was rather small) had spoke to him, however that wasn't what was bothering him at the moment considering that he had been rather rude himself (hey, he had been running off of very little sleep). Oh no, that's not what had his mouth turn turning downward along with his eyebrows.
What actually had been bothering him for the past couple of hours was the fact that he couldn't get those angry emerald eyes out of his head.
Sighing, he chucked the shirt to the floor and tried to sink himself down into the couch. What he needed and needed desperately was some sleep. Maybe then he would be able to get those stupidly beautiful emerald eyes out of his brain.
Silently, he sent up a prayer to whoever was listening that he would fall asleep as soon as possible. Apparently, that prayer wouldn't be answered any time soon thanks to his neighbor across the hall that liked to blast their music at… twelve-fifteen in at night? Or would that be considered morning?
Grumbling, he pulled himself up from the plushness of the couch and went in his room to dig out another random shirt before he made his way to his front door. It was just his luck that the only other resident on this side of the dorm building would have a habit of blasting music at all hours of the night.
According to Chiharu Mihara, one of the label's artists and the woman who showed him to the dorms that afternoon, this part of the building contained only one-person rooms, or rather apartments considering they did have bathrooms and kitchens. Also according to Chiharu, not too many people lived on this end, as many solo artists either had their own place or still lived home with their families.
This could have been an option for him, seeing as Meiling was currently renting an apartment somewhere nearby, however with the way that his schedule was set up they had decided that the best course would have been for him to stay as close as possible in the dorms. Considering the amount of time he would be spending here, it only made sense to live here too.
Taking this bit of information in, he guess he couldn't blame his new neighbor, seeing as they were probably used to being alone on this floor of the building. Still, he really needed his sleep, so he guessed he better introduce himself and let them know that they were no longer the only one here.
Knowing full well that a regular knock on the door wouldn't be heard over the thumping bass line that reached his ears through the wood, Syaoran raised his closed fist and brought it down on the door hard three times then waited.
And waited.
Then waited some more.
Groaning loudly, he raised his hand to knock once more when the door suddenly swung open. He had just barely stopped his fist from coming in contact with the forehead of the small woman that appeared on the other side, thanks to the sight of his new neighbor, he had frozen in his tracks. What could be the reason you ask?
Why, because the same pair emerald of eyes that had been haunting him all afternoon were currently glaring at him once more behind a pair of large, black thick-rimmed glasses.
He watched as her eyes widened in recognition before settling back into a glare and for some reason he had to repress a chuckle at the sight.
Ah, so she was still pissed about this afternoon, eh?
"Can I help you?"
The music, an unrecognizable song, was still blasting in the background but it had been turned down enough that he was able to hear her low melodic voice which surprisingly caused a slight chill to run down his spine. Shaking his head at the feeling, he mimicked her glare and pointed behind her to the now closed door of her dorm. "Do you mind keeping that down? Some of us are trying to sleep here." At the comment, her eyes seemed to widen slightly.
"You're my new neighbor?!"
He winced slightly as her screech finished echoing off of the walls. Thank goodness they were apparently the only ones on this floor. Sighing, he muttered "the name's Li Xiaolang" as he extended his hand, which she only looked at suspiciously before she slowly grasped it with her own smaller one before replying "I know who you are."A jolt of electricity shot up his arm at her touch, making the frown from earlier return to his face.
Man, he really needed some sleep seeing as he apparently was starting to imagine things.
They stood there for a moment holding on to each other's hands before she seemed to come back to her senses and snatched her hand away. Shoving his hand in his pocket, he looked her over while she looked lost in thought.
He noticed that she had auburn colored hair that was pulled back in a low ponytail, however he couldn't tell how long it was as it disappeared behind her back. She was dressed in a loose-fitting black t-shirt with a pair of equally loose-fitting gray sweatpants. She was so small in her getup; Syaoran wondered briefly how old she was because to him she looked like a small high school freshman. If she lived in the dorms, that meant that she worked at the label, however at the moment she looked like she wasn't even old enough to hold a job. Another thought hit him suddenly as he realized that she hadn't supplied her own introduction back to him.
"You got a name runt?"
She flinched at the insult and he inwardly chuckled as he watched her reign in her anger, before falling silently into thought. When she didn't respond, he bent down slightly to wave a hand in front of her blank gaze. She jumped slightly, looking everywhere but him, seeming very nervous for some reason. He guessed it was because she realized finally who he was, not to mention the reputation that went along with his name.
He was really hoping that was something he could change here.
"Kinomoto Sakura."
It was his turn to be shaken from his thoughts at the sound of her voice, and he came back to reality to find her green eyes locked directly on his face. Her lips tuned down in a frown as she nervously wrung her hands before dropping them to her side with an exasperated sigh. "Look, I'm… really sorry about this morning. It was an accident, and you were right, I wasn't looking where I was going so… sorry."
Syaoran wasn't sure if it was the lack of sleep finally getting to him or not, but this time he didn't stop the chuckle that bubbled up his throat, or his hand that suddenly decided to pat her on the head. She looked like a kid being forced to apologize. She swatted his hand away instantly and he laughed out right when he swore he heard her growl.
"Apology accepted runt. Just keep the music down in the future, alright?" With that, he turned on his heel and made his way back to his door, a smirk blossoming on his lips as her indignant huff reached his ears followed by the slam of her front door. By the time he reached his own door, the music from his neighbor had reduced to a slight hum in the hallway.
Entering his dorm, he didn't bother heading for his room, instead choosing to crash once again on the couch as it was the closest thing to him.
The second his body hit the cushions, the sleepiness that had been plaguing him all day finally took over. One final thought ran through his tired mind before it completely shut down, and that was the fact that his dreams were more than likely going to be filled with angry emerald eyes that he now knew resided across the hall from him.
At least green was his favorite color.
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KTKG Says: So…. What did you think? I had written a SS fic a long time ago, however I didn't feel like it was well received. So, let me know what you guys think and if this is something worth continuing. Thanks for reading this first chapter and remember… REVIEW!